Marshall and Mesurado wetlands — Monrovia's mangrove roosts
Cattle egret, little egret and heron roosts, whimbrel, sanderling, ringed plover, royal & sandwich terns, pied kingfisher, African finfoot in the Farmington creeks; the Farmington river islands' ex-laboratory chimpanzees (Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue). Mesurado wetlands (Monrovia) & Marshall wetlands (Margibi), Liberia.
Best time: 1 Nov – 28 Feb (November to February). Where: Mesurado wetlands – Bushrod Island / Providence Island, Marshall – Farmington river mouth, Farmington river islands ('Monkey Island') (Liberia). Time of day: The egret roost in the last 45 minutes before dark.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 3/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 1 Nov – 28 Feb. November to end of February for waders; the egret roosts fill every evening year-round
Active from 1 Oct to 30 Apr (October to April) in a typical year.
Time of day
The egret roost in the last 45 minutes before dark; high-tide wader roosts in the 2 hours around high water
- Egret roost: 45 min before sunset → last light
- Morning flats: sunrise → 2 h after sunrise
Depends on the tide: best around high tide. Check local tide tables.
What will you hear?
Thousands of egrets and herons settling into mangrove roosts on the edge of the capital, waders on the Marshall bar, mangrove crackle, and from the Farmington river islands the pant-hoots of the rescued chimpanzee colonies at dusk.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Egrets settle into mangrove roosts 50–100 m from the bridges; binoculars help, the chimp islands are heard from the water.
Where to go
- Mesurado wetlands – Bushrod Island / Providence Island — Ramsar site (2006) inside Monrovia; mangrove creeks between the port and the Mesurado river, viewed from the bridges and the Providence Island park. Map
- Marshall – Farmington river mouth — Ramsar site (2006) 50 km south-east; fishing town at the river mouth with sandbar roosts; canoes to the mangrove and towards the chimp islands (no landing). Map
- Farmington river islands ('Monkey Island') — Islands with the former New York Blood Center laboratory chimps, now cared for by Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue; boats keep off the islands. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Mesurado: walk or taxi to the Providence Island bridge or Bushrod Island creeks, free. Marshall: bush taxi from Monrovia, the river mouth and beach are free; a fisherman's canoe up the river is hired on the spot (no landing on the islands).
Cost: Free (2026); canoe hire check current prices.
Field-recording notes
Monrovia is loud — generators everywhere, the port, traffic — so Mesurado is a dusk-roost-over-a-city recording. Marshall is quieter: canoe paddlers, the surf bar. The chimp islands are strictly no-landing (dangerous animals, disease); the calls are recorded from the water. Humidity, salt, and very heavy rain from May.
Sources
Similar spectacles
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The Afi Mountain barn swallow roostA rising hiss of millions of wings and contact calls as the swallows swirl and drop into the grass on the mountain's western slopes, falcons stooping through the flock, and then the extraordinary, very quiet murmur of a settled roost after dark.
Starling murmurationsThe whoosh of tens of thousands of wings turning together, then a huge chattering as they settle into the reeds or under a pier; the dawn explosion out of the roost is even louder.
Starling murmurations in RomeMillions of starlings wheeling over the Tiber and EUR, then a massive chattering roar in the city trees against traffic and bells.
Kousmar — the world's largest lesser kestrel and scissor-tailed kite roostTens of thousands of small falcons and kites settling into a few hectares of acacias with a continuous chittering and the rush of wings, then a night of restless calling; the Saloum's mangroves and the town's calls to prayer behind.
Saloum Delta — tern roosts, mangrove herons and wintering wadersThousands of terns and waders on the sandbars of the Saloum mouth, the click and hiss of mangrove at low tide (mudskippers, fiddler crabs, snapping shrimp with a hydrophone), goliath heron's bark, and pied kingfishers everywhere.
More: all spectacles in Liberia · murmurations and roosts · Liberia in January · Liberia in February · Liberia in November · Liberia in December